So You Want to be a Loser?
by OceansMadeForYou
Summary: Sky Lovell was always the one in the back. He never had to be noticed, he just had to get by. But standing infront of a few hundred kids can change a person, espcially when you're insulting everyone.
1. Pro

DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Newsies. The plot belongs to me. Any OCs that did not originate from moi belong to themselves respectively. 

Prologue

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it at all. Now I could grasp the counseling sessions, because of my "low self esteem," which in my defense was about as true as Clinton not having an affair. I had great self esteem. I could even understand how I could get yelled out for now choosing an "appropriate or relevant topic," although, I don't see how much more relevant I could get. Writing a speech on how everyone was a loser was a perfectly acceptable thing to do. I mean everyone _is_ a loser. Making me perform the speech in front of the entire student body is entirely different. I guess they figured that this alleged punishment would raise that pesky self esteem issue of mine. I don't think they counted on it turning out quite the way it did. 

Racetrack smirked to himself as he stared up at the nerd on stage. What was his name again…Skunky or something, maybe Skibbles. He elbowed Mush who was laughing oddly next to him, "Who's he again." Mush scratched his head, "He's in my trig class I think, huddles in the corner, Sky or something?"

"Sky," Racetrack snorted, "You think the door would swing the other way for a kid like that." 

"Probably," Mush said simply. Race laughed, "So what's this all about exactly?" Jack Kelly, well his real name was Francis but he got mad in fourth grade when people kept making fun or him; so, after threatening to kill all the kids like Jack the Ripper the name just stuck, turned around, "I think he's doing a speech or something."

I cleared my throat just like Ms. Medda. We had to call her Ms. Medda, or Ms. M or something because she was one of those women that get to a certain point in their lives and start to feel old. So in a vain attempt to keep their youth they dress like their teenage daughters and have a midlife crisis. Ms. M was like that except single. She hits on some of the boys from time to time and it's rather creepy, I think there's a hidden pedophile in her wanting to come out, you should have seen the way she went on about Les Jacobs. 

Ms. M tapped on the microphone lightly, "Can everyone hear me? Hello? Hello?" There was a horrible screeching noise that made everyone cringe. She tapped again, "Can you hear me now?" There was a pause, "Good. Well, today we have a very exciting speaker, your very own classmate Sky Lovell." I leaned over and mumbled to her, "It's Skittery." 

"Oh, right. I mean Skittery Lovell." You can't get much worse of a name then Sky Lovell, Lovell being pronounced Love – L. It was like one of those bad made for TV teenage pregnancy movies where the girl is so drugged up she names her kid Pookie or something. My mother on the other hand was "just trying to get in touch with nature." There was also a brief period of my life when my mom and I became nudists, or naturalists. I try to block out certain memories.  

"Mr. Lovell will be performing the speech he wrote for class, so please give him you undivided attention," She turned to me, "Mr. Lovell."

I stepped to the microphone hands sweating, fingering my note cards nervously. Inhaling deeply I began, "Everyone is a loser. Yes, even you."

A/N Well, there you have it folks, the prologue. Isn't it pretty? After taking a long break I re-evaluated a few things and now I'm back. This isn't my first fic, I'm just…starting over. 

Casting Call:

Hey, if you think you're a loser I want you! (Rather Uncle Sam like isn't it?) Just tell me the usual appearance and you're lover, nickname and anything else you think I might want to read, and also please answer the following questions:

_______ is the root of all evil

Love is ______

The best things in life are _______

If a tree falls in the woods but no one is around to hear it does it still make a sound?

And most importantly…..

The stars at night shine big and bright *clapclapclapclap* deep in the heart of _______


	2. uno

A murmur swept through the crowd and I faltered. "Some, somewhere along the way certain people started thinking they were better, or cooler. I am here before you to remind you that this is not true. A loser is said to be a social outcast, some sort of recluse or outsider. Well, maybe I am, and maybe that's true. Yet, a loser is also someone that insults the nerds just to be accepted. And the nerds are the ones that look at all the porn because the girls are too good to go out with them. And the girls are the ones that date the jocks because they want to fit in with some accessory MTV based world. And the jocks are the ones that wish they were the nerds. We're all unhappy, walking along pretending nothing's wrong. It's not hard to guess why some kids want to blow up their school. So why do you think, because they were the losers? Some kids with a superiority complex banded together to make their life hell because they just weren't cool enough. You are the losers, every one of you, especially those who are too "cool" to admit it." 

Silence swept throughout the room. A very unwelcoming silence, remember way back when Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley kissed, and you couldn't say anything for the next five minutes because you were so disgusted? Or those dreams where you're naked and the lunch lady grabs your….thing, and you're so appalled you become temporarily speechless. Yeah, it was that kind of silence. 

I looked nervously back and forth, then at Ms. M wondering what to do. Then as some horrible turn of twisted fate the audience decided to save me. They decided to boo. Ah, well what can you expect? It was me and the, what's-his-name, the director of the brown bunny, against the world. It was starving artists such as us that just weren't appreciated. The booing grew louder, I was just happy they didn't have fruit. Shouts of "YOU'RE the loser," and "asshole," filled the room. Ms. Medda quickly made her way up to the microphone, "People, people, settle down now. Mr. Lovell was just sharing his…ideas of the world. We can't hate him for that. I mean if you really want to hate someone it should be your ex-husband you decided to have an affair with the marriage counselor." A distant look came across Ms. M's face, "But really, where are our manners?!"

The crowd shut up pretty fast after that. Ms. Medda wouldn't let it die though, "Besides, Sky here is a special boy," I didn't bother to correct her on my name, "He's different then you and I, and we're nice to different people aren't we? Now, please return to your homerooms, you will wait there until your next class." 

I glared at Medda. I know she was trying to make it better, but the "we're nice to different people" bit wasn't really helping. It was her who got me into this damn mess anyways. 

The assembly slowly cleared out, of course not without several people flipping me the hairy bird. Medda turned to me a triumphant look on her face, "Now do you see what I was trying to tell you Sky? It's better if you just try to…conform a bit. Make yourself less obtrusive, just fit in a bit better. Maybe if you made some friends you wouldn't be so cynical. Or such a, well lack of a better word, loser"

Man she Ms. M sure knew how to give a pep talk. She slung her arm across my shoulders, making me very uncomfortable, "Now, if you ever want to talk my door is always open. Well, off to class with you, oh and remember what I said about fitting in."

I picked up my messenger bag and slung it across my shoulder heading off to the bathroom. I figured I'd wait in there until lunch, or the end of school, or until I graduated. I plunked myself down in a stall and took out some French homework. Je deteste mon vie, I hate my life. Tout le monde est merde. The entire world is shit, and so on and so forth. I heard the door open and someone come into the stall next to me. 

"Hey," I heard a voice say.

"Umm hi," I responded not quite sure who they were.

"Here," a hand with blue nail polish handed me a note under the stall dividers. I heard them leave the stall and walk out the door. Opening the note I looked down, there in loopy cursive were the words _I'm a loser too_. 

I threw open the stall and ran out into the hallway hoping to see the girl. I was assuming it was a girl by the nail polish, but you never know. Sadly, there was no sight of her. While curiosity surrounded me I was also ecstatic, I was not alone! There were others aware of the loser epidemic. I carefully folded the note and slipped it into the front pocket of my bag. _I'm a loser too._ I had to find out who it was, but I was stumped. The only clue I had was the blue nail polish, which could be any girl in school. I suppose I could figure it out later I thought, returning to my stall. 

I couldn't believe that I had spent the last three hours in a bathroom stall. God I was such a wimp. So while I may have finished all my homework and eluded any death threats I was still in major shit for skipping out on my classes. I tossed my house keys on the kitchen counter and picked up my mother's note.

_Hey Cloudy,_ (She still called me that think it to be funny, I do believe she use to be on drugs…not that I have any proof.)

            _I'm working the late night shift, order something. There's money in the honey pot if you need it. _

_                                                                                    XXX,_

_                                                                                       Mummy_

Lovely, I picked up the phone to order some Chinese food, and then searched about for some type of alcohol. I know that there's nothing more pathetic then getting drunk alone, but what can I say? I don't exactly have a drinking buddy so I had to make due with my own sweet self. Just as I took a sip of my sherry and coke the door bell rang. Mmm maybe the Chinese was here early, or it was one of those Girl Scouts peddling cookies. Dare to dream, dare to dream. 

"Hello?" A short girl with strawberry blonde hair stood looking up at me, "Ummm," I looked her up and down, "We're not buying anything."

She looked past me, "Well I'm not selling," she handed me a flyer and pushed up her sunglasses revealing bright blue eyes. Glancing back at me she continued on, "Am I the first one here," she asked breezing past. 

I looked down at the piece of blue paper, there in bold print was my catch phrase, everyone's a loser, yes, even you. Neatly printed underneath were the words so you want to be a loser? Then come tonight from whenever to who knows when at Sky Lovell's house to bond with your fellow losers. Food might be included. Then in bright purple sharpie was my address. The girl was examining the pictures on the mantelpiece, particularly one from my nudist days.

I closed the door and came in after her, putting the picture face down, "I think there must be some mistake, I didn't put this up."

Surprise flashed in her eyes, "No, well someone did."

"Well that's pretty obvious now isn't it?" She brushed off my sarcasm and plopped down on the couch, "So got any food?"

"I ordered Chinese, but only for me." There was an awkward silence and she drummed her fingers on her jean clad thighs. I hesitantly spoke up, "I think maybe you should leave."

She opened her mouth but was interrupted by another knock on the door, there stood the Chinese delivery man, and unfortunately he was blocked by a girl and two rather scrawny boys. I was pretty sure I could take them, I wanted the kung-pow chicken enough, I wasn't so sure about the girl. I concentrated very hard on the delivery man hoping that my mental powers would reach him telling him to go around back. However, my concentration was broken by girl look at me confused asking, "Are you constipated?" 

"What?! No!" I stared at her, a bewildered look on my face.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Sorry, you had a weird look on your face." So much for my mental telepathy I suppose. The delivery guy was becoming impatient so I was forced to let the three stooges in for my tasty chicken. I didn't tip the delivery man because of his failure to comply with my mental commands, stupid imbecile. 

We all sat there silently staring at each other, me attempting to eat my chicken. Finally the antsy blue eyed girl stood up, "Right then, I'm Sapphy." 

"So?" I really had no interest in any of this and was quite confused. She glared at me, "Well, Sky," she drew out my name mockingly; "I just thought we should share that." 

"Fine, my name is Skittery by the way." 

She plopped back down, "Charmed I'm sure." I slurped up a noodle, well that was defiantly sarcasty. 

The girl with the long brunette hair spoke up, "I'm Frenchy," she reached out her hand to shake mine, in doing so I couldn't help but notice the bright blue nail polish. "It was you?"

"Huh?" She looked bewildered. 

"The note in the bathroom. That was you?"

"Ohhh that. Yeah, I suppose so." She quickly sat back down looking distinctly more uncomfortable then she had before. The boys spoke for the first time. They both adorned glasses and were blonde and brunette. The dark haired one stood up, "Well, I'm Specs, and this is Dutchy. We saw one of the flyers and thought we should stop by." 

Dutchy grabbed Specs hand and pulled him down, whispering something into his ear, Specs stood up again, "Right, we're gay incase you couldn't tell." I suppose the cuddling might have tipped us off. 

I set down my chicken figuring I should say something, "I didn't plan on seeing any of you here. I didn't know any of this was happening, but seeing how it is well that's nice now isn't it." Everyone stared at me, "Ummm, I suppose we could start up a bit of a club couldn't we?"

Frenchy nodded, "That was my thought, but not a club per say, more like…a support group. Where losers or freaks or whatever could you know hang out I suppose."

I popped a bit of chicken into my mouth, "Hmm excellent, excellent. I bet we should try to recruit new members then shouldn't we? Seeing how we had a bit of a dismal turn out today."

For the first time Dutchy spoke, "I could make buttons." 

A/N ahhh such kind reviews, I loved reading the CCs which is still open for a bit. If you weren't in this chapter fret not I may have struck a liking to you and add you later. In the mean time here's a Dutchy button for you all! 


	3. deux

A/N Wow, look at me, I put the author's note at the start of the chapter change is everywhere. Hmm sorry it took me oh soo long to update. I know I should be BURNED but at least let me explain. You see I was working, and I also performed my longer loser speech at school. I know I didn't give shout outs to everyone…but it's only because I didn't see them all as I was writing this forgive me please??

The Nameless Wonder – Man I really want to know you're name! Many thanks many thanks although you did get All Star stuck in my head "she was lookin' kinda down with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead." Oh wow I'm cool. Skitts really does need friends doesn't he?

Frenchy – Right no that isn't you… oh do you actually own a phone anymore in Penn because on would think you might call me. I don't care how far away you are! *throws button at head*

Splashey – yes, yes the Chinese delivery man is my hero. He is loosely based on my pizza boy *sigh* I love our national anthem if only it's the tune of an old drinking song…am I right?

Scouty – Can I call you Scouty or will you hunt me down? I'm so glad you think I'm efficient, other people *pointed looks all around* don't agree. Therefore you're flattery is very kind *glomps*

Sapphy – VH1 is the shiot!! Of course I watched the celebrity feuds psh and chaw! Oh how I adore I love the 80s and I love the 80s (strikes back) the witty repertoire is my life. Come over and have orange chicken with me we'll watch VH1 and get smashed. 

Miracle – hee hee many thanks you make my ego swell so 

Cat – believe you me EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas! 

             I stared at Dutchy, "Buttons?" He looked at me innocently, "Yes, buttons. The world would be nothing without buttons. Just like Wallace and Grommit would be nothing without cheese."

            Specs smiled adoringly, crazy kid, "He has a bit of a button fetish." 

            "I uh don't think buttons is the way to go." Dutchy looked incredibly hurt and distressed by this notion, "Buttons spread the word."

            "We have a word?"

            "Of course we have a word," this was followed by agreeing nods. Why was I not aware of our word, "Which is?"

            Dutchy just stared at me. "What he means to say," ah there was Specs, "Was that we need to spread the message that everyone is a loser. Reel them in you know. Make them join us."

            I stared around the room. "Make them join us? Where you people raised in cults or something? We're not the Polyphonic Spree you know. I'm not trying to rally for world peace." 

            Dutchy frowned, "I happen to enjoy the Polyphonic Spree."

            "Could we please keep our guilty pleasures guilty and secret?" 

            Specs snorted, "Oh please like you don't sit around listening to covers of Somewhere over the Rainbow." 

            Sapphy suddenly started to sing, "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high, there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby." Frenchy found in necessary to join in, stupid girls they die in twos, "Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue, and the dream that you dare to dream really do come true."

            Dutchy broke out, "Someday I'll wish upon a star," Specs started in, "And wake up where the clouds are far behind me." They all looked at me expectantly and I return this with a blank stare, "Where troubles melt like lemon drops, way above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me." These people were completely mental. No person in a healthy mind frame willingly sings Somewhere over the Rainbow. Unfortunately I do not possess a healthy mind frame and I caved. Standing up on the coffee table I belted, "Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly," Frenchy slung her arm over my shoulder finishing up with me and everyone else, "Birds fly over the rainbow why then oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly, beyond the rainbow why oh why can't I?" We all failed to hit the last note dismally and collapsed into laughter.

            Frenchy turned to me, "For the love of God let do you have any food?" 

            "Kitchen," I said distractedly, "I do not listen to Somewhere over the Rainbow." Specs quirked and eyebrow at me disbelieving, "Then how come you know the words?"

            "How come you know the words," I shot back. 

            "Because I listen to it," he said smirking. Stupid smirk, smirks should perish at my hand. I opened my mouth to inform him of this, but he left to join Frenchy in the kitchen. I looked around for someone to pout to, finding no one I settled on mumbling to my chicken. 

            Sapphy came over to sit next to me, "Its okay you know."

            "Huh?" Jesus I always sounded so stupid.  

            "It's okay that you don't want us here. The fact is though we're here anyways. And a bit more of it is that we're here for you, or at least because of you. Think about it."

I sighed and stared at her, "I'm not too sure what you're expecting me to do."

            "Just, try not to fail before you even try."

            Stupid philosophical sayings, "Chicken?" She snatched the carton away, "I seriously believe you've had enough of this, it depresses you." 

            I just stared at her, watching her eat my chicken and casually stroll into my kitchen. Where she would probably casually eat my food, how I hate thee cruel world. Bring on the white jackets. This is the last leg to my fragile health. Look I can hear a ringing sound, that can't be good. 

            "Are you going to get that?" 

            I snapped out of my reverie, "Get what?"

            "The door," the voice screamed back from the kitchen, so that was the ringing sound. I walked to the door opened it to reveal an edgy looking kid, "Ummm the guy that sells crack is a few doors down," I said as he twitched some more. 

            "Ohh right, I mean… if you're looking for _Ned_ it's a few doors that way," I turned to close the door, the sporadic twitching was really creeping me out. 

            "Oh fucking hell, I'm not on drugs you idiot!"

            "Oh." He peered back and forth, "Look, just let me in, I don't want to uhh be seen." 

            I stepped aside to let him pass, people were so weird. I closed the door behind him and escorted him to the kitchen where everyone seemed to be congregating. People were munching on Pringles, sour cream and onion and genuinely having a nice time, it must end. 

Frenchy smiled at me as I entered the room, "We're electing official positions."

"Huh?" Official positions, did we need official positions, could we do that? 

Frenchy just kept on, "Yes, official positions. Actually, it's not much of an election as it is we're appointing jobs. Right, so I'm thinking Dutchy and Specs P.R," I'm not sure they really heard her as they were slightly occupied but Specs did seem to wave his hand dismissively, who knew what that meant though. "I'm going to be secretary of the house, and I think Sapphy should be president."

Now, I knew I hadn't been very involved up until this point, but that certainly caught my attention. This was my baby, my creation, and this was mutiny! They were pulling a hostile takeover on me! No way, I was like Donald Trump, they couldn't touch me, I'd fire them all! I'd make sure they'd never work in this town again. I narrowed my eyes at Sapphy centering my glare upon her; I'd burn her brains out! Burn! BUUUURN!

            Sapphy turned towards me and flashed a smile; I hoped her teeth would rot, "You don't mind, do you?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder, I would shave her head. 

            Right, then I wanted to scream of course I mind! Are you crazy? Unfortunately I have this problem where my mind and my mouth don't cooperate, my face must be going through spasms, I grinned stupidly, "Of course I don't mind," I hated her, "I mean you seem to be in control," I'd kill her.

            Frenchy popped a chip into her mouth, "So you can be speaker of the house then." 

The new guy who had been rearranging my fruit magnets turned around, "What do I do?"

Frenchy paused, "Well, you could be…treasure?" Psh, like we needed a treasure. "Could I just get your name, for your button and ID card and what not?"

He glanced around nervously, "Uh yeah I don't think so." 

"I really need your name." 

"I would actually prefer if no one knew I was in this uh club." Silence filled the room, then Specs and Dutchy detangled themselves and turned around. Dutchy grinned and walked over to the mystery man giving him a hug, ah manly hugs, "Racetrack! Glad to see you made it," he turned back to us, "Camp Fagalon, we were bunk mates, good times, good times." 


End file.
